Relationship between Impulsivity, Personality Traits and Social Media use among Medical Students: A Cross-sectional Study

Introduction: Excessive social media use is increasingly prevalent among medical students, potentially leading to addiction and affecting well-being. Psychological constructs such as impulsivity and personality traits may predispose this vulnerable group to social media addiction. Aim: To investigate the relationship between impulsivity, personality traits, and social media addiction among medical students. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted at the Department of Psychiatry, Dr. D. Y. Patil Medical College, Hospital and Research Centre, Pune, Maharashtra, India, from October 2023 to September 2024, among medical students studying at the Medical College affiliated with a Tertiary Healthcare Hospital in Pune, India. After Institutional ethics approval, 305 undergraduate medical students were recruited by convenience sampling. Participants completed sociodemographic questionnaires and validated psychometric instruments, including the Barratt Impulsivity Scale (BIS-11), the Big Five Inventory (BFI), and the Social Media Addiction Scale (SMAS). Data were analysed using Mann-Whitney U and Chisquare tests with a significance threshold of p-value <0.05. Results: Social media addiction was prevalent in 81.6% of students. Individuals with addiction reported significantly more daily screen time (p-value=0.001) and a higher frequency of checking updates (p-value <0.001). Neuroticism was substantially higher, while agreeableness and openness to experience were significantly lower among addicted students (p-value <0.001, p-value=0.001, and p-value=0.030, respectively). While overall impulsivity scores were not significantly different between the groups, addicted participants exhibited higher attentional, motor, and non planning impulsivity (p-value <0.001, p-value=0.001, and p-value=0.044, respectively). The SMAS total score showed a positive correlation with the number of platforms used, daily screen time, frequency of checking updates, neuroticism, and BIS-11 scores. Regression analysis revealed increased daily screen time, increased frequency of checking updates, neuroticism, and BIS-11 scores as significant positive predictors and openness and agreeableness as significant negative predictors of social media addiction. Conclusion: Social media addiction affects a significant proportion of medical students and is characterised by elevated neuroticism, reduced agreeableness and openness to experience, and increased impulsivity in all sub-domains. These findings suggest the need for early identification of those at risk and the development of focused interventions to address addiction and, therefore, promote the mental health of medical students in academic settings.